The patent specification U.S. Pat. No. 6,781,524 discloses a position detection system for vehicles moving on a roadway. The known system comprises a magnetic element arranged on each of the vehicles. Sensor coils are arranged in the roadway. If a vehicle with its magnetic element then travels over such a sensor coil, a magnetic flux is generated in said sensor coil by means of the magnetic element. The magnetic flux can then be measured by means of the measurement of a sensor coil voltage, such that a presence of the vehicle above the sensor coil can be detected.
What is disadvantageous about this, for example, is that a considerable time elapses before it is possible to determine a vehicle position on the basis of the measured sensor coil voltage. That is owing to the fact, in particular, that a continuous periodic voltage signal is applied to the sensor coil, and so only a continuous measurement signal is available for the purpose of position determination, here the envelope of the measurement signal being measured over a plurality of periods, which takes a considerable amount of time.